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Freezing of gait in people with Parkinson's disease (PwP) is associated with executive dysfunction and motor preparation deficits. We have recently shown that electrophysiological markers of motor preparation, rather than decision-making, differentiate PwP with freezing of gait (FOG +) and without (FOG −) while sitting. To examine the effect of locomotion on these results, we measured behavioural and electrophysiological responses in PwP with and without FOG during a target response time task while sitting (single-task) and stepping-in-place (dual-task). Behavioural and electroencephalographic data were acquired from 18 PwP (eight FOG +) and seven young controls performing the task while sitting and stepping-in-place. FOG + had slower response times while stepping compared with sitting. However, response times were significantly faster while stepping compared with sitting for controls. Electrophysiological responses showed no difference in decision-making potentials (centroparietal positivity) between groups or conditions but there were differences in neurophysiological markers of response inhibition (N2) and motor preparation (lateralized readiness potential, LRP) in FOG + while performing a dual-task. This suggests that the addition of a second complex motor task (stepping-in-place) impacts automatic allocation of resources in FOG +, resulting in delayed response times. The impact of locomotion on the generation of the N2 and LRP potentials, particularly in freezers, indirectly implies that these functions compete with locomotion for resources. In the setting of multiple complex tasks or cognitive impairment, severe motor dysfunction may result, leading to freezing of gait. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

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Introduction: This study examined the effect of proficiency level on the second Language (L2) syntactic and semantic processing by addressing the role of procedural and declarative memory systems in light of the Declarative/Procedural (DP) model. The primary purpose was to determine to what extent proficiency accounts for native-like language processing in L2 in adult bilinguals who learned English (L2) after the age of 15 under explicit instruction. Methods: Using a mixed-method design and an oddball violation paradigm, we examined the functional neural correlates of syntactic and semantic processing in two groups of Persian-English bilinguals (L1=Persian, L2=English; N=10 high-proficient, N=10 pre-intermediate levels; Gender= Female; mean age=25.50 years, SD = 5.09 years, age range = 19-35 years of age) across 6 different conditions. They included a visual stimulus task of 240 English sentences with three different experimental conditions (violated regular past forms or phrase structure rules or final-word semantic violation) and three control conditions (sets of correct sentences for each experimental condition). Both groups started learning English late (age of onset=15+) and under an explicit learning context. To evaluate the effect of L2 proficiency, Event-related potentials (ERPs) to target words in each condition were elicited across the N400 time window (300-500 ms) and the P600 time window (500-700 ms). Results: Results showed different cortical responses in the two groups. Upon processing the violated forms, high-proficient subjects showed more native-like patterns of scalp activity in both lexical-semantic and syntactic processing. In contrast, less proficient learners have shown delayed onsets and or peaks of components, reduced amplitudes, or absent components in some regions. For instance, the difference in N400 amplitude for the incorrect regular past conditions was observed only in the pre-intermediate (PI) subjects in the O1 channel. This finding is compatible with the DP Model in that at lower levels of L2 proficiency, the participants show N400s or N400-like posterior negativities instead of Anterior Negativities (ANs). This finding shows the initial reliance on the declarative memory system for syntactic processing at lower levels of L2. Conclusion: Our findings suggest that attained proficiency was a more determinant factor in the L1-like cortical representation of L2 than the age of acquisition and or the type of instruction/context. Several brain areas, similar to those observed for L1, were activated during L2 syntactic processing in high-proficient subjects addressing their reliance on the procedural memory system for syntactic processing to gain more proficiency. For instance, our results showed a significant difference in N400 amplitude for the incorrect regular past conditions in O1 for the PI subjects, which shows the initial reliance on the declarative memory system for syntactic processing at lower levels of L2. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Objective: To investigate the correlation between MAO A single polymorphism and inhibitory control in young people. Methods: Fifty-seven healthy college students were included Behavioral data (reaction time and accuracy), latency and amplitude of ERPs inhibitory control components (N2/P3 difference waves) were investigated with Go/Nogo task to investigate the difference of inhibition control among different genotypes. Ligase specific detection reaction (LDR) was used to investigate the MAO A polymorphism of rs5906957, rs2235186, rsl 181275 and rs58524323. According to the MAO A genotype, subjects were divided into three genotype groups to investigate the effect of SNP genotype on ERPs components. Results: In rs2235186, ERPs results showed that there was a significant difference in amplitude of P3 difference wave, CT genotype was higher than CC and TT genotype [Cpz (3. 3 ±2. 6) μv vs. (0. 7 ±2. 8) μv vs. (2. 2 ±2. 5)μv vs, P <0.05]. In rsl 181275, the topographic maps illustrate the distribution of P3d of CT group was different to CC and TT group, CT genotype was higher than CC and TT genotype[(3. 1 ±2. 5) μv vs. (1. 5 ±2. 8) μv vs. (2. 0 ±2. 7) μv vs, P <0. 05]. Conclusion: It suggests that the inhibitory control of different genotype individuals in young people is related with the polymorphism of MAO A gene. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Working memory is very sensitive to acute sleep deprivation, and many studies focus on the brain areas or network activities of working memory after sleep deprivation. However, little is known about event-related potential (ERP)-related changes in working memory after sleep loss. The purpose of this research was to explore the effects of 36 h of total sleep deprivation (TSD) on working memory through ERPs. Sixteen healthy college students performed working memory tasks while rested and after 36 h of TSD, and electroencephalography (EEG) data were simultaneously recorded while the subjects completed working memory tasks that included different types of stimulus materials. ERP data were statistically analyzed using repeated measurements analysis of variance to observe the changes in the working memory-related N2-P3 components. Compared with baseline before TSD, the amplitude of N2-P3 components related to working memory decreased, and the latency was prolonged after TSD. However, the increased amplitude of the P2 wave and the prolonged latency were found after 36 h of TSD. Thus, TSD can impair working memory capacity, which is characterized by lower amplitude and prolonged latency. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rationale: Cue avoidance training (CAT) reduces alcohol consumption in the laboratory. However, the neural mechanisms that underlie the effects of this intervention are poorly understood. Objectives: The present study investigated the effects of a single session of CAT on event-related and readiness potentials during preparation of approach and avoidance movements to alcohol cues. Methods: Heavy drinking young adults (N = 60) were randomly assigned to complete either CAT or control training. After training, we recorded participants' event-related and motor readiness potentials as they were preparing to respond. Results: In the CAT group, N200 amplitude was higher when preparing to approach rather than avoid alcohol pictures. In the control group, N200 amplitudes did not differ for approach and avoidance to alcohol pictures. Regarding the late positive potential (LPP), in the CAT group, the negativity of this was blunted when preparing to avoid alcohol pictures relative to when preparing to avoid control pictures. In the control group, the negativity of the LPP was blunted when preparing to approach alcohol pictures relative to when preparing to approach control pictures. There were no effects on motor readiness potentials. Behavioural effects indicated short-lived effects of training on reaction times during the training block that did not persist when participants were given time to prepare their motor response before executing it during the EEG testing block. Conclusions: After a single session of CAT, the enhanced N200 when approaching alcohol cues may indicate the engagement of executive control to overcome the associations learned during training. These findings clarify the neural mechanisms that may underlie the effects of CAT on drinking behaviour. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• We present a wavelet denoising approach to enhance visualizations of evoked potentials. • Denoising gave similar RMSE as ensemble averaging but with less number of trials. • Wavelet denoising can be implemented in clinical practice, particularly in cases where it is difficult to record many trials. Ensemble averaging is typically used to enhance the signal to noise ratio (SNR) of event related potentials (ERPs). This approach has the disadvantage of extending the recording time. We present an alternative approach to achieve SNRs similar to the ones obtained with ensemble averaging but with fewer trials. Single trial ERPs were denoised by using a wavelet denoising technique. With simulated ERPs we compared the performance obtained with the standard and denoised averages by quantifying the root-mean-square-error (RMSE) between ensemble averages obtained with and without denoising. Denoising decreased the RMSE, giving similar values to the ones obtained with the standard averages but with less than half the number of trials. RMSEs were comparable for larger number of trials, thus showing that denoising did not introduce spurious distortions to the ERPs. Wavelet denoising proved to be an efficient technique to improve evoked potential SNRs. It is useful in clinical settings, where recordings may be constrained by the limited capability to obtain a sufficient number of trials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

ObjectiveWe examined auditory cortical potentials in normal hearing subjects to spectral changes in continuous low and high frequency pure tones.MethodsCortical potentials were recorded to increments of frequency from continuous 250 or 4000Hz tones. The magnitude of change was random and varied from 0% to 50% above the base frequency.ResultsPotentials consisted of N100, P200 and a slow negative wave (SN). N100 amplitude, latency and dipole magnitude with frequency increments were significantly greater for low compared to high frequencies. Dipole amplitudes were greater in the right than left hemisphere for both base frequencies. The SN amplitude to frequency changes between 4% and 50% was not significantly related to the magnitude of spectral change.ConclusionsModulation of N100 amplitude and latency elicited by spectral change is more pronounced with low compared to high frequencies.SignificanceThese data provide electrophysiological evidence that central processing of spectral changes in the cortex differs for low and high frequencies. Some of these differences may be related to both temporal- and spectral-based coding at the auditory periphery. Central representation of frequency change may be related to the different temporal windows of integration across frequencies.

Objective: Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) is a type of dementia based on language and speech disorder characterized primarily and gradually by selective degeneration of left perisylvian language network. The current study aims to investigate N400 event-related potential (ERP) of patients with Primary Progressive Aphasia (PPA) in comparison with healthy elderly controls. Methods: Fifteen PPA patients (11 males, 4 females; age mean for group=63, SD=7.48) and 11 healthy controls (8 males, 3 females; age mean for group= 64.09, SD=9.32) were included in the study. Cognitive functions of all participants were evaluated with a detailed battery of neuropsychological tests. EEG data were collected with the semantic priming and lexical decision paradigm. Repeated measures ANOVA included Group [2 levels: PPA patients, healthy controls] as a between-subject factor, and Condition [2 levels: related, unrelated word pairs] as a within-subject factor. Since semantic priming effect was evident under the central electrodes for Turkish, the analyses focused on the central region electrodes. Results: A repeated-measures ANOVA revealed a significant interaction effect of GROUP X CONDITION in a time window of 350 ms and 500 ms [F(1,24)=7.670, p=0.011, ηp²=0.242]. Post hoc analysis showed that mean N400 amplitudes were higher for semantically unrelated targets compared to semantically related ones in healthy controls (p=0.017). No significant difference was obtained for mean N400 amplitudes between unrelated and related words in PPA patients (p=0.233). Conclusion: The N400 ERP component is seen as being related to a reflection of lexical-semantic retrieval. These results indicate that degeneration of language networks in PPA is associated with altered patterns of N400 ERP. Such a marker could prove to be advantageous for dissecting semantic memory dysfunctions in PPA patients. This work has been supported by İzmir Bakırçay University Scientific Research Projects Coordination Unit, under grant number KBP.2021.009. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Research on the functioning of human cognition has been a crucial problem studied for years. Electroencephalography (EEG) classification methods may serve as a precious tool for understanding the temporal dynamics of human brain activity, and the purpose of such an approach is to increase the statistical power of the differences between conditions that are too weak to be detected using standard EEG methods. Following that line of research, in this paper, we focus on recognizing gender differences in the functioning of the human brain in the attention task. For that purpose, we gathered, analyzed, and finally classified event-related potentials (ERPs). We propose a hierarchical approach, in which the electrophysiological signal preprocessing is combined with the classification method, enriched with a segmentation step, which creates a full line of electrophysiological signal classification during an attention task. This approach allowed us to detect differences between men and women in the P3 waveform, an ERP component related to attention, which were not observed using standard ERP analysis. The results provide evidence for the high effectiveness of the proposed method, which outperformed a traditional statistical analysis approach. This is a step towards understanding neuronal differences between men’s and women’s brains during cognition, aiming to reduce the misdiagnosis and adverse side effects in underrepresented women groups in health and biomedical research.

Magneto- and electro-encephalography (MEG/EEG) non-invasively record human brain activity with millisecond resolution providing reliable markers of healthy and disease states. Relating these macroscopic signals to underlying cellular- and circuit-level generators is a limitation that constrains using MEG/EEG to reveal novel principles of information processing or to translate findings into new therapies for neuropathology. To address this problem, we built Human Neocortical Neurosolver (HNN, https://hnn.brown.edu) software. HNN has a graphical user interface designed to help researchers and clinicians interpret the neural origins of MEG/EEG. HNN’s core is a neocortical circuit model that accounts for biophysical origins of electrical currents generating MEG/EEG. Data can be directly compared to simulated signals and parameters easily manipulated to develop/test hypotheses on a signal’s origin. Tutorials teach users to simulate commonly measured signals, including event related potentials and brain rhythms. HNN’s ability to associate signals across scales makes it a unique tool for translational neuroscience research.

This review aims to identify patterns of electrical signals identified using electroencephalography (EEG) linked to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis and symptom dimensions. We filter EEG findings through a clinical lens, evaluating nuances in findings according to study criteria and participant characteristics. Within the EEG frequency domain, greater right than left parietal asymmetry in alpha band power is the most promising marker of PTSD symptoms and is linked to exaggerated physiological arousal that may impair filtering of environmental distractors. The most consistent findings within the EEG time domain focused on event related potentials (ERPs) include: 1) exaggerated frontocentral responses (contingent negative variation, mismatch negativity, and P3a amplitudes) to task-irrelevant distractors, and 2) attenuated parietal responses (P3b amplitudes) to task-relevant target stimuli. These findings suggest that some individuals with PTSD suffer from attention dysregulation, which could contribute to problems concentrating on daily tasks and goals in lieu of threatening distractors. Future research investigating the utility of alpha asymmetry and frontoparietal ERPs as diagnostic and predictive biomarkers or intervention targets are recommended.

Inhibition of Return (IOR) refers to an individual’s slowed localization or discrimination performance for targets that appear in previously cued versus uncued location after a relatively long delay after cue (∼300–500 ms). The current study adopted a cue-target paradigm and used behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures to investigate whether IOR would be modulated by emotional faces during an emotion recognition task. For reaction time measure, we found IOR effect and the magnitude of IOR effect were comparable for fearful face target and neutral face target. For ERP measures, valid cues were associated with smaller P1 and larger N1 waveform than that for invalid cues. Fearful faces were associated with a larger N170 than neutral faces. The onset latency of the stimulus-locked lateralised readiness potential (LRP) in the valid cue condition was longer than that in the invalid cue condition, while there was no significant difference on the onset latency of the response-locked LRP between the valid cue and invalid cue condition. These results support the notion that, regardless the emotion component of the stimulus, the inhibitory bias of attention to previous visited location before response contributes to the IOR.

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an increasingly common developmental disorder that affects 1 in 59 children. Despite this high prevalence of ASD, knowledge regarding the biological basis of its associated cognitive difficulties remains scant. In this study, we aimed to identify altered neurophysiological responses underlying inhibitory control and emotion processing difficulties in ASD, together with their associations with age and various domains of cognitive and social function. This was accomplished by assessing electroencephalographic recordings during an emotional go/nogo task alongside parent rating scales of behavior. Event related potential (ERP) N200 component amplitudes were reduced in children with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) children. No group differences were found, however, for task performance, P300 amplitude or latency, or N170 amplitude or latency, suggesting that individuals with ASD may only present conflict monitoring abnormalities, as reflected by the reduced N200 component, compared to TD individuals. Consistent with previous findings, increased age correlated with improved task performance scores and reduced N200 amplitude in the TD group, indicating that as these children develop, their neural systems become more efficient. These associations were not identified in the ASD group. Results also showed significant associations between increased N200 amplitudes and improved executive control abilities and decreased autism traits in TD children only. The newly discovered findings of decreased brain activation in children with ASD, alongside differences in correlations with age compared to TD children, provide a potential neurophysiological indicator of atypical development of inhibitory control mechanisms in these individuals.

The United States is in the midst of an opioid epidemic and lacks a range of successful interventions to reduce this public health burden. Many individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) consume drugs to relieve physical and/or emotional pain, a pattern that may increasingly result in death. The field of addiction research lacks a comprehensive understanding of physiological and neural mechanisms instantiating this cycle of Negative Reinforcement in OUD, resulting in limited interventions that successfully promote abstinence and recovery. Given the urgency of the opioid crisis, the present review highlights faulty brain circuitry and processes associated with OUD within the context of the Three-Stage Model of Addiction (1). This model underscores Negative Reinforcement processes as crucial to the maintenance and exacerbation of chronic substance use together with Binge/Intoxication and Preoccupation/Anticipation processes. This review focuses on cross-sectional as well as longitudinal studies of relapse and treatment outcome that employ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRs), brain stimulation methods, and/or electroencephalography (EEG) explored in frequency and time domains (the latter measured by event-related potentials, or ERPs). We discuss strengths and limitations of this neuroimaging work with respect to study design and individual differences that may influence interpretation of findings (e.g., opioid use chronicity/recency, comorbid symptoms, and biological sex). Lastly, we translate gaps in the OUD literature, particularly with respect to Negative Reinforcement processes, into future research directions involving operant and classical conditioning involving aversion/stress. Overall, opioid-related stimuli may lessen their hold on frontocingulate mechanisms implicated in Preoccupation/Anticipation as a function of prolonged abstinence and that degree of frontocingulate impairment may predict treatment outcome. In addition, longitudinal studies suggest that brain stimulation/drug treatments and prolonged abstinence can change brain responses during Negative Reinforcement and Preoccupation/Anticipation to reduce salience of drug cues, which may attenuate further craving and relapse. Incorporating this neuroscience-derived knowledge with the Three-Stage Model of Addiction may offer a useful plan for delineating specific neurobiological targets for OUD treatment.

A consistent limitation when designing event-related potential paradigms and interpreting results is a lack of consideration of the multivariate factors that affect their elicitation and detection in behaviorally unresponsive individuals. This paper provides a retrospective commentary on three factors that influence the presence and morphology of long-latency event-related potentials—the P3b and N400. We analyze event-related potentials derived from electroencephalographic (EEG) data collected from small groups of healthy youth and healthy elderly to illustrate the effect of paradigm strength and subject age; we analyze ERPs collected from an individual with severe traumatic brain injury to illustrate the effect of stimulus presentation speed. Based on these critical factors, we support that: (1) the strongest paradigms should be used to elicit event-related potentials in unresponsive populations; (2) interpretation of event-related potential results should account for participant age; and (3) speed of stimulus presentation should be slower in unresponsive individuals. The application of these practices when eliciting and recording event-related potentials in unresponsive individuals will help to minimize result interpretation ambiguity, increase confidence in conclusions, and advance the understanding of the relationship between long-latency event-related potentials and states of consciousness.

Background: One of the most prevalent sleep disorders is obstructive sleep apnea (OSA). Patients with OSA have increased risk of car and work place accidents which may be attributed to cognitive impairment due to poor sleep quality. Thus, there is an increasing need to implement simple, reliable and rapid screening for cognitive impairment in OSA patients. Objectives: To assess auditory event-related potentials (ERPs) and quantitative electroencephalography (QEEG) as screening tools for detection of cognitive impairment in OSA patients taking circadian effects into consideration. Subjects and methods: Twenty OSA patients as well as 20 gender- and age-matched volunteers were subjected to trail making test (TMT), auditory ERPs and QEEG before and after at least 6 h polysomnographic recording. Correlating electrophysiological tools with TMT and clinical parameters was done as well Results: Statistically significant changes in P300 latency and reaction time, in addition to occipital alpha power were noted in cases; however, TMT failed to detect such changes. Electrophysiological results were not constantly correlated to clinical parameters. Conclusion: Auditory ERPs and QEEG before and after polysomnography can be of benefit as cognitive screening test for suspected cognitive impairment in OSA patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

PURPOSE: Electrophysiological event-related potentials (ERP's) have been reported to change after concussion. The objective of this study is to use a simple 2-tone auditory P300 ERP in routine clinical settings to measure changes from baseline after concussion and to determine if these changes persist at return to play when other standard measures have normalized. METHODS: Three-hundred sixty-four (364) student athletes, aged 17–23 years, participating in contact sports were tracked over consecutive years. In this blinded study P300, plus physical reaction times and Trail Making tests, were collected alongside standard clinical evaluations. Changes in these measures after concussion were compared to clinical outcomes over various stages of post-injury recovery. RESULTS: Concussed players experienced significant reaction time and/or P300 amplitude changes compared to pre-concussion baseline measurements (p < 0.005). P300 changes persisted in 38% of the players after standard measures, including reaction times, had cleared. Many of those players slow to normalize were part of the sub-concussive symptom group and/or appeared more prone to repeat concussions. CONCLUSION: These data suggest significant P300 amplitude changes after concussion that are quantifiable and consistent. These changes often normalized slower than other standard assessments. More data are needed to determine if slow normalization relates to sub-concussive or repeated events. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Rapid serial visual presentation (RSVP) based brain-computer interfaces (BCIs) can detect target images among a continuous stream of rapidly presented images, by classifying a viewer’s event related potentials (ERPs) associated with the target and non-targets images. Whilst the majority of RSVP-BCI studies to date have concentrated on the identification of a single type of image, namely pictures, here we study the capability of RSVP-BCI to detect three different target image types: pictures, numbers and words. The impact of presentation duration (speed) i.e., 100–200ms (5–10Hz), 200–300ms (3.3–5Hz) or 300–400ms (2.5–3.3Hz), is also investigated. 2-way repeated measure ANOVA on accuracies of detecting targets from non-target stimuli (ratio 1:9) measured via area under the receiver operator characteristics curve (AUC) for ${N}={15}$ subjects revealed a significant effect of factor Stimulus-Type (pictures, numbers, words) (F (2,28) = 7.243, ${p} = {0.003}$) and for Stimulus-Duration (F (2,28) = 5.591, p = 0.011). Furthermore, there is an interaction between stimulus type and duration: F (4,56) = 4.419, ${p} = {0.004}$). The results indicate that when designing RSVP-BCI paradigms, the content of the images and the rate at which images are presented impact on the accuracy of detection and hence these parameters are key experimental variables in protocol design and applications, which apply RSVP for multimodal image datasets. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

We explored the impact of affect on cognitive control as this relates to individual differences in affective instability and substance use. Toward this end, we examined how different dimensions of affective instability interact to predict substance misuse and the effect of this on two event-related potential components, the reward positivity and the late positive potential, which are said to reflect the neural mechanisms of reward and emotion processing, respectively. We recorded the ongoing electroencephalogram from undergraduate students as they navigated two T-maze tasks in search of rewards. One of the tasks included neutral, pleasant, and unpleasant pictures from the International Affective Picture System. Participants also completed several questionnaires pertaining to substance use and personality. A principal components analysis revealed a factor related to affective instability, which we named reactivity. This factor significantly predicted increased substance use. Individuals reporting higher levels of affective reactivity also displayed a larger reward positivity following stimuli with emotional content. The current study uncovered a group of high-risk substance users who were characterized by greater levels of affective reactivity and context-specific increased sensitivity to rewards. These results help to elucidate the complex factors underlying substance use and may facilitate the creation of individually-tailored treatment programs for those struggling with substance use disorders. • We identified a unique factor representing affective reactivity. • Affective reactivity significantly predicted increased substance use. • Reward positivity was larger in emotional contexts for reactive individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Gilles de la Tourette syndrome is a common, multifaceted neuropsychiatric disorder characterized by multiple motor and vocal tics. Although numerous neuroanatomical and neurophysiological particularities have been documented, there is no general concept or overarching theory to explain the pathophysiology of Tourette syndrome. Given the premonitory urges that precede tics and the altered sensorimotor processing in Tourette syndrome, the "Theory of Event Coding" (TEC) seems to be an attractive framework. TEC assumes that perceptions and actions are bound together and encoded using the same neural code to form so-called "event files." Depending on the strength of the binding between perception and action, partial repetition of features of an event file can lead to increasing cost because existing event files need to be reconfigured. This is referred to as "partial repetition costs", which appear to be increased in Tourette patients. This indicates stronger binding within "event files" in Tourette. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Deficits in auditory event-related potentials (ERPs), brain responses to stimuli indexing different cognitive processes, have been demonstrated widely in chronic schizophrenia (SZ) patients though much less is known about these responses across the early course of psychosis. The present study examined multiple ERP components in first episode psychosis (FEP) patients longitudinally and investigated the relationships between ERPs, psychosocial functioning, and clinical features over time. N1, P2, P3a, and P3b ERPs were elicited using a three-stimulus (novelty) auditory oddball paradigm. FEP patients included SZ-spectrum and psychotic bipolar disorder (BD) diagnoses. Data were collected from 41 patients at baseline, 20 patients at 12-month follow-up, 14 at 24-month follow-up, and 29 healthy control subjects. N1 and P2 ERPs were intact across the early stages of psychosis. Baseline P2 was significantly larger in BD than SZ patients. Reduced P3a and P3b ERPs were found in patients followed longitudinally and are stable over time. ERPs tracked distinct aspects of symptomology and medication, though specific associations were inconsistent across time. Baseline P3a amplitude predicted later psychosocial functioning. The pattern of correlations between ERP components in patients differed from controls. Baseline P3a ERP, and PANSS general score were significant and independent predictors of later MCAS functioning at 12-month. Overall, individuals with worse functioning and greater symptomology produced smaller amplitudes. Our results highlight the heterogeneity within the FEP population. Correlation patterns among ERPs are similar between patients and controls. P3a and P3b amplitudes appear to link with higher-order cognitive and psychosocial functioning. • N1 and P2 ERPs are intact across the early stages of psychosis. • Reduced P3a and P3b ERPs are found in early stage of psychosis patients followed longitudinally and are stable over time. • Baseline P3a ERP and PANSS general score are significant and independent predictors of real life functioning a year later. • Individuals with worse functioning and greater symptomology produced smaller ERP amplitudes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Summary: We investigated neural correlates of cognitive function in adults with beta thalassaemia major (β‐TM) compared to healthy controls using scalp‐recorded event‐related potentials (ERPs). Event‐related potential studies in the field of β‐TM are scarce and mostly limited to children. A stop‐signal task was used to evaluate indices of attention and response inhibition function, considered to be the hallmark of executive control. Correlations between task performance, ERPs and haemoglobin were also examined. Results showed impaired cognitive performance in β‐TM patients, as indicated by longer response times than controls. Haemoglobin was negatively correlated with response times to Go stimuli. Electrophysiological results indicated significant β‐TM‐related alterations in neuronal activity, reflected in greater peak amplitudes of several task‐related ERP components. A possible interpretation of these ERP results is that β‐TM patients need to recruit additional brain resources when dealing with cognitive challenge. Significant correlations were found between levels of haemoglobin and amplitude of all ERP components; the lower the haemoglobin, the more pronounced the ERPs amplitude. The present study represents a novel investigation of cognitive function and related brain dynamics in β‐TM in adult. Integrating neuropsychological assessment and interventions into traditional disease management, may be imperative in achieving a better quality of life for these patients. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The following abstract contains 150 words: Studies regarding compound word processing have centred on Noun–noun words, which exhibit endocentricity. Nevertheless, other compound types, such as Spanish Verb–noun compounds, exhibit morphological particularities such as exocentricity, verb argument structure, and metaphorical features, increasing the attributes that may influence compound processing. We analysed whether these traits influenced Spanish Verb–noun compound processing. A lexical decision task was administrated with electroencephalogram (EEG) recording. Following differences in argument structure and metaphorical traits, three compound types were presented: Agentives, Locatives, and Metaphoricals. Locatives were responded worse and slower than Agentives. Metaphoricals elicited increases in the P300 and P600-like components. Thus, verb argument structure and metaphorical processes influence Spanish Verb–noun compound processing. Similarly to endocentric English Noun–noun compounds, processing Spanish Verb–noun compounds involves specific conceptual operations. These conceptual combinations appear to be determined by the projection of verb argument structure and the mapping and assignation of thematic roles. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The current study investigated how experimentally induced acute normobaric hypoxia affects attentional control functions during easy, monotonous visual sustained attention and response inhibition (modified Continuous Performance Task) and executive control tasks (number-size Stroop task). Along with behavioral efficiency, task-relevant and task-irrelevant information processing were investigated by measuring event related brain potentials (ERP) evoked by target stimuli (Target P3), task-relevant stimuli with no response needed (NoGo P3), and task-irrelevant novel stimuli (Novelty P3) during acute hypoxia exposure. Normobaric hypoxia was induced by adjusting the O 2 content of the breathing mixture to obtain 80% peripheral oxygen saturation, equivalent of 5500 m above sea level. Here we report decreased Novelty P3 during acute normobaric hypoxia exposure, while Target P3 and NoGo P3, as well as behavioral efficiency remained intact. Our paper is the first to provide evidence for impaired novelty processing along with intact task-relevant information processing and response inhibition during normobaric hypoxic exposure. • Electrophysiological measures of attentional control were investigated during hypoxia. • Normobaric hypoxia impaired novelty processing indexed by Novelty P3. • Task performance was unaffected by hypoxia. • Response inhibition indexed by NoGo P3 also remained preserved. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Background: The aim of this study was to examine the neurophysiological correlates of cognitive dysfunctions in a patient with the minimally verbal variant of Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD + MV), who after reaching adulthood showed progressive deterioration of his cognitive skills. Case study: The patient was a 25-year-old male, diagnosed with ASD. He never developed spoken language, and communicated only by gesturing or writing on a computer. Conclusions: Our findings confirmed comorbidity of ASD and epilepsy, accompanied by dysfunction of cognitive control. We also found that spontaneous EEG and event-related potentials (ERPs) in a cued GO/NOGO task can be used to assess functional brain changes concomitant with ASD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

This review aims to identify patterns of electrical signals identified using electroencephalography (EEG) linked to posttraumatic stress disorder (PTSD) diagnosis and symptom dimensions. We filter EEG findings through a clinical lens, evaluating nuances in findings according to study criteria and participant characteristics. Within the EEG frequency domain, greater right than left parietal asymmetry in alpha band power is the most promising marker of PTSD symptoms and is linked to exaggerated physiological arousal that may impair filtering of environmental distractors. The most consistent findings within the EEG time domain focused on event related potentials (ERPs) include: 1) exaggerated frontocentral responses (contingent negative variation, mismatch negativity, and P3a amplitudes) to task-irrelevant distractors, and 2) attenuated parietal responses (P3b amplitudes) to task-relevant target stimuli. These findings suggest that some individuals with PTSD suffer from attention dysregulation, which could contribute to problems concentrating on daily tasks and goals in lieu of threatening distractors. Future research investigating the utility of alpha asymmetry and frontoparietal ERPs as diagnostic and predictive biomarkers or intervention targets are recommended. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Electroencephalography (EEG)-based neurofeedback (NF) is a safe, non-invasive, non-painful method for treating various conditions. Current NF systems enable the selection of only one NF parameter, so that two parameters cannot be feedback simultaneously. Consequently, the ability to individually-tailor the treatment to a patient is limited, and treatment efficiency may therefore be compromised. We aimed to design, implement and test an all-in-one, novel, computerized platform for closed-loop NF treatment, based on principles from learning theories. Our prototype performs numeric evaluation based on quantifying resting EEG and event-related EEG responses to various sensory stimuli. The NF treatment was designed according to principles of efficient learning, and implemented as a gradual, patient-adaptive 1D or 2D computer game, that utilizes automatic EEG feature extraction. Verification was performed as we compared the mean area under curve (AUC) of the theta band of a dozen subjects staring at a wall or performing the NF. Most of the subjects (75%) increased their theta band AUC during the NF session compared with the trial staring at the wall (p = 0.041). Our system enables multiple feature selection and its machine learning capabilities allow an accurate discovery of patient-specific biomarkers and treatment targets. Its novel characteristics may allow for improved evaluation of patients and treatment outcomes. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Inhibition of Return (IOR) refers to an individual's slowed localization or discrimination performance for targets that appear in previously cued versus uncued location after a relatively long delay after cue (∼300–500 ms). The current study adopted a cue-target paradigm and used behavioral and event-related potential (ERP) measures to investigate whether IOR would be modulated by emotional faces during an emotion recognition task. For reaction time measure, we found IOR effect and the magnitude of IOR effect were comparable for fearful face target and neutral face target. For ERP measures, valid cues were associated with smaller P1 and larger N1 waveform than that for invalid cues. Fearful faces were associated with a larger N170 than neutral faces. The onset latency of the stimulus-locked lateralised readiness potential (LRP) in the valid cue condition was longer than that in the invalid cue condition, while there was no significant difference on the onset latency of the response-locked LRP between the valid cue and invalid cue condition. These results support the notion that, regardless the emotion component of the stimulus, the inhibitory bias of attention to previous visited location before response contributes to the IOR. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD) is an increasingly common developmental disorder that affects 1 in 59 children. Despite this high prevalence of ASD, knowledge regarding the biological basis of its associated cognitive difficulties remains scant. In this study, we aimed to identify altered neurophysiological responses underlying inhibitory control and emotion processing difficulties in ASD, together with their associations with age and various domains of cognitive and social function. This was accomplished by assessing electroencephalographic recordings during an emotional go/nogo task alongside parent rating scales of behavior. Event related potential (ERP) N200 component amplitudes were reduced in children with ASD compared to typically developing (TD) children. No group differences were found, however, for task performance, P300 amplitude or latency, or N170 amplitude or latency, suggesting that individuals with ASD may only present conflict monitoring abnormalities, as reflected by the reduced N200 component, compared to TD individuals. Consistent with previous findings, increased age correlated with improved task performance scores and reduced N200 amplitude in the TD group, indicating that as these children develop, their neural systems become more efficient. These associations were not identified in the ASD group. Results also showed significant associations between increased N200 amplitudes and improved executive control abilities and decreased autism traits in TD children only. The newly discovered findings of decreased brain activation in children with ASD, alongside differences in correlations with age compared to TD children, provide a potential neurophysiological indicator of atypical development of inhibitory control mechanisms in these individuals. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The United States is in the midst of an opioid epidemic and lacks a range of successful interventions to reduce this public health burden. Many individuals with opioid use disorder (OUD) consume drugs to relieve physical and/or emotional pain, a pattern that may increasingly result in death. The field of addiction research lacks a comprehensive understanding of physiological and neural mechanisms instantiating this cycle of Negative Reinforcement in OUD, resulting in limited interventions that successfully promote abstinence and recovery. Given the urgency of the opioid crisis, the present review highlights faulty brain circuitry and processes associated with OUD within the context of the Three-Stage Model of Addiction (1). This model underscores Negative Reinforcement processes as crucial to the maintenance and exacerbation of chronic substance use together with Binge/Intoxication and Preoccupation/Anticipation processes. This review focuses on cross-sectional as well as longitudinal studies of relapse and treatment outcome that employ magnetic resonance imaging (MRI), functional near-infrared spectroscopy (fNIRs), brain stimulation methods, and/or electroencephalography (EEG) explored in frequency and time domains (the latter measured by event-related potentials, or ERPs). We discuss strengths and limitations of this neuroimaging work with respect to study design and individual differences that may influence interpretation of findings (e.g., opioid use chronicity/recency, comorbid symptoms, and biological sex). Lastly, we translate gaps in the OUD literature, particularly with respect to Negative Reinforcement processes, into future research directions involving operant and classical conditioning involving aversion/stress. Overall, opioid-related stimuli may lessen their hold on frontocingulate mechanisms implicated in Preoccupation/Anticipation as a function of prolonged abstinence and that degree of frontocingulate impairment may predict treatment outcome. In addition, longitudinal studies suggest that brain stimulation/drug treatments and prolonged abstinence can change brain responses during Negative Reinforcement and Preoccupation/Anticipation to reduce salience of drug cues, which may attenuate further craving and relapse. Incorporating this neuroscience-derived knowledge with the Three-Stage Model of Addiction may offer a useful plan for delineating specific neurobiological targets for OUD treatment. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Highlights • Effective therapy of obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) remains a challenge. • Electroencephalography (EEG) provides insights to the pathophysiology of OCD. • EEG findings depict frontal slowing and enhanced error related negativity (ERN). • ERN enhancement shows promise as a potential endophenotype for OCD. • OCD appears to stem from frontal circuitry and performance monitoring alterations. Abstract Obsessive-compulsive disorder (OCD) is a chronic disease that causes significant decline in the quality of life of those affected. Due to our limited understanding of the underlying pathophysiology of OCD, successful treatment remains elusive. Although many have studied the pathophysiology of OCD through electroencephalography (EEG), limited attempts have been made to synthesize and interpret their findings. To bridge this gap, we conducted a comprehensive literature review using Medline/PubMed and considered the 65 most relevant studies published before June 2018. The findings are categorised into quantitative EEG, sleep related EEG and event related potentials (ERPs). Increased frontal asymmetry, frontal slowing and an enhancement in the ERP known as error related negativity (ERN) were consistent findings in OCD. However, sleep EEG and other ERP (P3 and N2) findings were inconsistent. Additionally, we analysed the usefulness of ERN as a potential candidate endophenotype. We hypothesize that dysfunctional frontal circuitry and overactive performance monitoring are the major underlying impairments in OCD. Additionally, we conceptualized that defective fronto-striato-thalamic circuitry causing poor cerebral functional connectivity gives rise to the OCD behavioural manifestations. Finally, we have discussed transcranial magnetic stimulation and EEG (TMS-EEG) applications in future research to further our knowledge of the underlying pathophysiology of OCD. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Cognitive impairment (CI) is a common and disabling symptom of Multiple Sclerosis (MS) with a negative impact on daily living. In this pilot study, we applied magnetoencephalography (MEG) and high density (hd) electroencephalography (EEG) study to evaluate acoustic P300 features in a cohort of early MS. Sixteen MS patients (pwMS) and 19 healthy controls (HCs) matched for age and gender underwent an MEG-/(hd)-EEG-co-recording, using 306-channel Vectorview and 64 scalp electrodes. CI was assessed using Rao’s Brief Repeatable Battery (BRB). Moreover, we performed psychometric tests to assess depression and fatigue. In pwMS, we observed a slight latency prolongation of P300 peak compared to HCs, while P300 amplitude and scalp distribution were similar in the two groups. pwMS did not show an amplitude reduction and different scalp distribution of Event-Related Potentials (ERPs) and Event Related Fields (ERFs) related to an acoustic oddball paradigm. We found an inverse correlation between P300 amplitude and fatigue (r Spearman = −0.4; p = 0.019). In pwMS, phenomena of cortical adaptation to early dysfunction could preserve the cognitive performance of the P300 acoustic task, while the development of fatigue could prospectively lead to amplitude decline of P300, suggesting its possible role as a biomarker.

The corpus callosum (CC) has been identified as an important structure in the context of cognitive aging (Fling et al., 2011). Interhemispheric transfer time (IHTT) is regularly used in order to estimate interhemispheric integration enabled by the CC (Marzi, 2010; Nowicka and Tacikowski, 2011). However, only little is known with regards to the relationship between IHTT and the structural properties of the CC with only few studies with specific samples and methods available (Whitford et al., 2011). Thus, the present study aimed at investigating this relationship applying an event-related potentials (ERP) based approach of estimating IHTT as well as diffusion weighted imaging (DWI) with fractional anisotropy (FA) as an indicator of white matter integrity (WMI) of the genu, corpus and splenium of the CC. 56 healthy older adults performed a Dimond Task while ERPs were recorded and underwent DWI scanning. IHTT derived from posterior electrode sites correlated significantly with FA of the splenium (r = −0.286*, p =.03) but not the corpus (r = −0.187, p =.08) or genu (r = −0.189, p =.18). The present results support the notion that IHTT is related to WMI of the posterior CC. It may be concluded that ERP based IHTT is a suitable indicator of CC structure and function, however, likely specific to the interhemispheric transfer of visual information. Future studies may wish to confirm these findings in a more divers sample further exploring the precise interrelation between IHTT and structural or functional properties of the CC. • Interhemispheric transfer time relates to structural integrity of corpus callosum. • Transfer times correlate with fractional anisotropy of the splenium. • Shorter transfer time corresponds to increased fractional anisotropy. • This relationship may be specific to visual fibers. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

• Portable device (VEPpeak) simplifies visual ERP examination since it can be used anywhere (ambulatory depts., at home...). • The whole examination set is transported in a single handbag (device weight is 390 g + notebook) and the ERP examination is simple (self-examination is possible) and quick (10 min). • The recorded ERPs (with the use of an odd-ball paradigm for visual recognition of colors) are robust, with low variability of amplitudes and latencies. • ERP latencies are sensitive to age and sedative effect of pharmacotherapy, thus the used examination arrangement could detect cognitive function changes in psychiatric patients. • In the tested group of 31 patients with schizophrenia the recorded ERPs displayed longer latencies and longer choice reaction times compared to 15 controls (although not age-matched in this pilot study). Despite positive prior results obtained by using event-related potentials (ERPs) in psychiatric patients, they are not routinely used in the clinical setting. This may in part be due to problems regarding a lack of transportable equipment availability. It can be difficult for these patients to repeatedly visit electrophysiological laboratories. To address this issue, we propose using a new, fully portable device for visually evoked potentials (VEP) and cognitive function assessment, that can be used for quick examinations (https://www.veppeak.com). Our device, called "VEPpeak", is built into a headset with a color LED visual stimulator. It weighs 390 g and is connected to a notebook (PC) with evaluation software via USB. In this pilot study, we verified the device's usability in 31 patients with schizophrenia. We used the oddball paradigm with the recognition of colors for the P300 wave and choice reaction time evaluation. The examination lasted only about ten minutes. The results indicated good reproducibility of large cognitive potentials (P300) with prolonged P300 latencies and reduced amplitudes in patients compared to 15 control subjects. The P300 latency and reaction time prolongation in patients correlated with their age and the sedative effect of the pharmacotherapy. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Event-related potential (ERP) data is essentially multi-dimensional, with correlated data in some spaces. Therefore, matrix and vector analysis results in structural information loss. Tensor decomposition can be used to explore the shared structural information of ERP signal among related conditions. Perceiving the decaying trends of the singular value changes of unfolding matrices indicate that they are low-rank matrices. Based on this assumption, in this work, a low-rank tensor restoration (LTR) method is proposed. An operator splitting method known as the alternating direction method of multipliers (ADMM) is adapted to tackle the proposed optimization problem with orthogonality and sparsity constraints. Accordingly, the problem is solved in a sequential fashion by computing the unconstrained and orthogonality constrained quadratic sub-problems with closed-form solutions. The algorithm is examined under three application areas, namely, noise removal, feature extraction and subject-to-subject transfer learning. The empirical evaluations on real P300-based ERP dataset demonstrate the robustness and effectiveness of the proposed method. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The use of cognitive evoked potentials in EEG is now part of the routine evaluation of non-communicating patients with disorders of consciousness in several specialized medical centers around the world. They typically focus on one or two cognitive markers, such as the mismatch negativity or the P3 to global auditory regularity. However it has become clear that none of these markers in isolation is at the same time sufficiently specific and sufficiently sensitive to be taken as the unique gold standard for diagnosing consciousness. A good way forward would be to combine several cognitive markers within the same test to improve evaluation. Furthermore, given the diversity of lesions leading to disorders of consciousness, it is important not only to probe whether a patient is conscious or not, but also to establish a more general and nuanced profile of the residual cognitive capacities of each patient using a combination of markers. In the present study we built a unique EEG protocol that probed 8 dimensions of cognitive processing in a single 1.5 h session. This protocol probed variants of classical markers together with new markers of spatial attention, which has not yet been studied in these patients. The eight dimensions were: (1) own name recognition, (2) temporal attention, (3) spatial attention, (4) detection of spatial incongruence (5) motor planning, and (6,7,8) modulations of these effects by the global context, reflecting higher-level functions. This protocol was tested in 15 healthy control subjects and in 17 patients with various etiologies, among which 13 could be included in the analysis. The results in the control group allowed a validation and a specific description of the cognitive levels probed by each marker. At the single-subject level, this combined protocol allowed assessing the presence of both classical and newly introduced markers for each patient and control, and revealed that the combination of several markers increased diagnostic sensitivity. The presence of a high-level effect in any of the three tested domains distinguished between minimally conscious and vegetative patients, while the presence of low-level effects was similar in both groups. In summary, this study constitutes a validated proof of concept in favor of probing multiple cognitive dimensions to improve the evaluation of non-communicating patients. At a more conceptual level, this EEG tool can help achieve a better understanding of disorders of consciousness by exploring consciousness in its multiple cognitive facets.

The number of older drivers is steadily increasing, and advancing age is associated with a high rate of automobile crashes and fatalities. This can be attributed to a combination of factors including decline in sensory, motor, and cognitive functions due to natural aging or neurodegenerative diseases such as HIV-Associated Neurocognitive Disorder (HAND). Current clinical assessment methods only modestly predict impaired driving. Thus, there is a need for inexpensive and scalable tools to predict on-road driving performance. In this study EEG was acquired from 39 HIV+ patients and 63 healthy participants (HP) during: 3-Choice-Vigilance Task (3CVT), a 30-min driving simulator session, and a 12-mile on-road driving evaluation. Based on driving performance, a designation of Good/Poor (simulator) and Safe/Unsafe (on-road drive) was assigned to each participant. Event-related potentials (ERPs) obtained during 3CVT showed increased amplitude of the P200 component was associated with bad driving performance both during the on-road and simulated drive. This P200 effect was consistent across the HP and HIV+ groups, particularly over the left frontal-central region. Decreased amplitude of the late positive potential (LPP) during 3CVT, particularly over the left frontal regions, was associated with bad driving performance in the simulator. These EEG ERP metrics were shown to be associated with driving performance across participants independent of HIV status. During the on-road evaluation, Unsafe drivers exhibited higher EEG alpha power compared to Safe drivers. The results of this study are 2-fold. First, they demonstrate that high-quality EEG can be inexpensively and easily acquired during simulated and on-road driving assessments. Secondly, EEG metrics acquired during a sustained attention task (3CVT) are associated with driving performance, and these metrics could potentially be used to assess whether an individual has the cognitive skills necessary for safe driving.

Efficiently perceiving a threatening intention conveyed by others’ bodily actions has great survival value. The current study examined if the human brain is sensitive to differences in intentions that are conveyed via bodily actions. For this purpose, a new intention categorization task was developed in which participants sat in front of a computer screen on which the pictures of highly threatening (HT), moderately threatening (MT), and non-threatening (NT) body actions were presented randomly. Participants were asked to press the corresponding buttons using threatening intention judgment, while event-related potentials (ERPs) were recorded. According to a cluster permutation test, we analyzed N190, N2, EPP (early posterior positivity), and P3. The results showed there was a positive correlation between the amplitude of the EPP induced by three kinds of body actions and the reaction time of the task. The results also revealed that when the deflection of EPP was less positive, the reaction time was shorter. We suggest that EPP might be useful as an index of body intention processing of the brain. The current study revealed that intention perception of body actions modulates brain processing.

How are verb-argument structure preferences acquired? Children typically receive very little negative evidence, raising the question of how they come to understand the restrictions on grammatical constructions. Statistical learning theories propose stochastic patterns in the input contain sufficient clues. For example, if a verb is very common, but never observed in transitive constructions, this would indicate that transitive usage of that verb is illegal. Ambridge et al. (2008) have shown that in offline grammaticality judgements of intransitive verbs used in transitive constructions, low-frequency verbs elicit higher acceptability ratings than high-frequency verbs, as predicted if relative frequency is a cue during statistical learning. Here, we investigate if the same pattern also emerges in on-line processing of English sentences. EEG was recorded while healthy adults listened to sentences featuring transitive uses of semantically matched verb pairs of differing frequencies. We replicate the finding of higher acceptabilities of transitive uses of low- vs. high-frequency intransitive verbs. Event-Related Potentials indicate a similar result: early electrophysiological signals distinguish between misuse of high- vs low-frequency verbs. This indicates online processing shows a similar sensitivity to frequency as off-line judgements, consistent with a parser that reflects an original acquisition of grammatical constructions via statistical cues. However, the nature of the observed neural responses was not of the expected, or an easily interpretable, form, motivating further work into neural correlates of online processing of syntactic constructions.

Several domains of cognitive function, e.g., verbal memory, information processing, fluency, attention, and executive function are impaired in patients with schizophrenia. Cognitive impairments in schizophrenia have attracted interests as a treatment target, because they are considered to greatly affect functional outcome. Electrophysiological markers, including electroencephalogram (EEG), particularly, event-related potentials, have contributed to psychiatric research and clinical practice. In this review, we provide a summary of studies relating electrophysiological findings to cognitive performance in schizophrenia. Electrophysiological indices may provide an objective marker of cognitive processes, contributing to the development of effective interventions to improve cognitive and social outcomes. Further efforts to understand biological mechanisms of cognitive disturbances, and develop effective therapeutics are warranted.